jokevsjukeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“joke” and “juke” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,742
“joke” frequency rank
#42,964
“juke” frequency rank
60706
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature joke juke
Definition Blague, farce. Bar dansant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set joke and juke apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
joke
4 ch
juke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. joke (\dʒok\) and juke (\dʒuk\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - o in “joke” becomes u in “juke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

joke is recorded at frequency rank #17,742, classified as anoun, pronounced \dʒok\. juke is at rank #42,964, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dʒuk\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 60706, this pair ranks #96,237 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of joke vs juke

Shared letters: ejk. Private to "joke": o. Private to "juke": u.

"joke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "juke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jokejjoke · jkoe · joek · jokke · ojke
  • jukejjuke · jkue · juek · jukke · ujke

Frequency comparison

joke#17,742
juke#42,964

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "joke" and "juke" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\dʒok\ versus \dʒuk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "joke" or "juke"?
"joke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,742 in our French list, against #42,964 for "juke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering joke vs juke

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “joke” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list